In an early work by gu wenda, surrealist landscape #3, the indiscernible forms and disordered lines are reminiscent of works by Wassily Kandinsky, while certain combinations of forms and lines resemble characters in the ancient seal script of Chinese calligraphy. They are, however, detached, synthesized, misplaced, overlapped, miswritten, negated, and inverted. The character-like forms challenge and inhibit the viewer’s attempt to ascribe meaning. The notion of “unreadability” here paved the way for the artist’s fully developed creation of pseudo-characters.

Composed of elegant, dynamic dances between the black ink and white acrylic, Zheng Chongbin’s monochromatic paintings are the result of a conglomeration of theories and aesthetics pulled from Western and Eastern artistic canons. Through his practice, Zheng explores the fundamental elements which make up our world, including recurring geometries present in both macro and micro structures within the cosmos. Complementary pieces, Dissolved Geometry C and Dissolved Geometry B are symbolic of the numerous dualities found in the natural world.

This exhibition was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

This exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the Fondation INK. All exhibitions at LACMA are underwritten by the LACMA Exhibition Fund.

This forest of city street lights, called Urban Light was created by artist Chris Burden. Despite initial appearances, the arrangement is not a perfect grid. Depending on where the viewer stands, the lamps arrange themselves in different angles and arrays. The 202 cast iron lamps once lit the streets of Los Angeles. Burden bought the first one at the Rose Bowl flea market, and soon collecting and restoring street lights became an obsession. He painted them all the same neutral gray, in order to draw the eye to all the different varieties of cast iron decoration.